#rhamnus lanceolata

[cedar-glade]

Lance leaf Buckthorn,

Rhamnus lanceolata

Bring this plant back, make it common, make it known for fall interest, make it known for it’s benefits and scale and structure.

A show stopper, an under utilized native that can thrive in rocky conditions and specifically does well in alkaline hillsides, at one point Cincinnati Ohio was known for having this species in such high abundance that it was considered a weed species. I wish that was still the case, now Cincinnati is honey suckle and other suitable habitat is invasive buckthorn, privot, and autumn olive. This is a critical nectar species during transition from spring to summer, a bee and wasp magnet. Here we see it in alkaline uplifted marl and till located along risen sections of the black ash white cedar swamp woodland of cedar bog(a fen).

This species was also an incredible thicket island species critical to prairies and I never see it in restoration or recreation plots.

 https://indigescapes.com/blog/2019/7/25/the-myth-of-the-thicket-less-prairie

[cedar-glade]

Rhamnus lanceolata

species that often was associated with alkaline dry hillsides, open talus hillsides, and has it’s core in the barren sections of the Ozarks but does well in barren sections in the ILP as well.  It was at one point an incredibly common species before amur honeysuckle and heartstopper buckthorn. Now, in Ohio we see it rarely, even less so than the niche companion Dr. Lucy Braun’s field notes on it mentioned, which is Rhus aromatica. 

Late June is when this species is in bloom, an incredible nectar source. 

I wish nurseries would give us the option of this plant because of this. 

I included a stem shot of spice bush and lance leaf buckthorn because of the lenticel patterns often having over lap and they both form understory thicket often along the same forested hillsides, crack the leaves if your not sure, spice bush is very aromatic.

Aside from that, I would like more people to report this species via I naturalist when they find it if they are in east coast states, the south, or the ILP where it is uncommon or rare. 

[cedar-glade]

Went to Pearls with Dan Boone a while back and was told about some interesting issues about a few thicket species( american plums that could potentially have less flux and die off as a result with more fire) and this small population; along the seep stream there is a small remnant Ramnus lanceolata(sparse but there are red leaves in this photo, it’s fall, frogs and cran...)  population, there is low recruitment now with only 4 members and 3 old growth individuals. With some time and proper management including fire, we may see more in time. While Ramnus lanceolata may seem too small to take fire, they are fairly adapted to it. While im not necessarily sure of the ecological concepts behind these adaptations, many thicket species are capable of coming back from the roots as suckers or from modified psuedo-caudex burl like structures like lignotuber, a specialized organ that the genera Rhamnus is known to have; with that said, i’ve never looked at herbarium specimens of the root system of Rhamnus lanceolata, only leaves, flowers, and fruits. I have found no literature supporting that this specific species can occur with lignotubers. Lucy Braun (Dr. E. L. Braun) had described populations in Ohio a few times growing on open calcium rich slopes with Rhus aromatica, in hillside thickets near hillside prairies. Fallen prairie in Adams co. is a barren containing Carolina buckthorn and lanceleaf buckthorn in-situ * specific Braun field notes are in Lloyd library if you get a chance* , these barrens require fire for their health. In one paper about Kansas plant communities there seems to be descriptions of thicket habitat being semi-riparian, 

^from Ecological Plant Geography of Kansas. 

https://www.jstor.org/stable/2420211?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

^ also, among learning a while back that we at one point had sandstone in cincinnati, I’ve also learned that at one point 6 miles north of cincinnati was Este’s bog, that seemed like it could of been a pretty nice place.